Deeplinks Blog posts about Free Speech

In June 2015, the U.N's free speech watchdog, David Kaye, intends to present a new report on anonymity and encryption before the 47 Member States of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council. Yesterday, EFF filed comments urging Mr. Kaye to reaffirm the freedom to use encryption technology and to protect the right to speak, access and read information anonymously. Mr. Kaye’s report could be one of the most significant opportunities to strengthen our fundamental freedoms in the digital age at the international level.

France’s misguided efforts to grapple with hate speech—which is already prohibited by French law—have been making headlines for years. In 2012, after an horrific attack on a Jewish school, then-president Nicolas Sarkozy proposed criminal penalties for anyone visiting websites that contain hate speech. An anti-terror law passed in December imposes greater penalties on those that “glorify terrorism” online (as opposed to offline), and allows websites engaging in the promotion of terrorism to be blocked with little oversight.

UPDATE: The Senate version of the SAVE Act became law in May 2015. It was added as an amendment (Section 118) to the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (S. 178), which became Public Law No. 114-22. The new law amends the federal sex trafficking statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1591, to make advertising a crime. However, unlike the House bill, the law purports to remove the reckless disregard standard and thereby limit the intent requirement to a knowledge standard (knowledge that the person advertised is being trafficked for sex).

U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay sentenced Barrett Brown this morning to 63 months in federal prison, minus the 31 months he has already served to date. He was also ordered to pay $890,000 in restitution. EFF is disappointed to see that Brown wasn’t released today, after having spent nearly three years in prison on charges stemming from his work as an independent journalist.

Increased regulation of online political speech may also undermine two goals of campaign finance reform: protecting freedom of political speech and expanding political participation. As we explain in our comments: